J of MD
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- 11 years 11 months 2 days
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SONGS, POEMS & VERSES
Written about her mother by
Helen, Lady Dufferin, (Richard Brinsley Sheridan's descendant)
(Countess of Gifford)
Edited, with a memoir and some account of the Sheridan family by her son, the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava.
A fond desire to preserve memory of those we love from oblivion is an almost universal sentiment, whether we build the tomb of Mausolus or carve the name of Rosalind on the forest trees in Arden. It is this motive which has led me to collect and publish the poems and songs of my mother; for a book once published has put on the robes of immortality; it becomes a ktμα εs αει (words in Greek) an indestructible witness to the existence and individuality of its author. Nor need I apologize for having undertaken this pious labor, for some of the pieces have already received a warm welcome, not only in England, but also in "Greater Britain." One of them, the "Irish Emigrant," has attained to world-wide fame, and on the other side of the Atlantic is wont to bring the audience to its feet. Another, "the Charming Woman," when it first appeared many years ago, was sung in the streets and theatres as well as in the drawing rooms of London; while one or two of the larger poems have continued to be recognized favorites at popular recitations. Since these have pleased, I have been induced to add others to the number, and to give to what has already been published a more stable existence than belonged to the fleeting form in which my mother's verses were originally disseminated. Printed in this small volume, they will, I trust, be allowed a niche in the literature of our century...
The Sheridans, though they fell afterwards upon evil days, were originally an ancient, affluent, and important family, possessing castles and lands in the County Cavan, a tract of which is marked in the old maps of the period as "the Sheridan country"; but [1
[1] "In Cavan, the ancient Brefny East, the families mentioned in an old map bearing date 1607 are the Sheridans, or O'Sheridans, and the O'Reillys." Notes on the Sheridans.]
in Queen Elizabeth's time their property was escheated, as Thomas Sheridan bitterly complained before the bar of the House of Commons in I680. They were driven from their homes, and were forced during the next two hundred years to fight the battle of life under what were always discouraging and sometimes desperate conditions. It is, perhaps, to these persecutions of Fate that their continuous intellectual activity may be attributed.
The first of the line who laboured in the world of letters was Denis Sheridan, the son of Donald and of a daughter of the O'Neill. He must have been born about the year 1600. He had quitted the Catholic fold to become a Protestant clergyman, and a devoted disciple of the saintly Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore, under whose direction he translated the English version of the Bible into Irish. Bishop Bedell died in Mr. Sheridan's house in the year 1642.
In order to make good the assertion that all living Le Fanus are of Sheridan descent it is necessary to go back to Hester Sheridan, sister of Thomas Sheridan the actor. This lady, who is said to be named after Stella, married John Knowles, who was for some time Treasurer of the Smock Alley theatre and agent to his brother-in-law. They had two children: James, a teacher of elocution who published in 1835 a pronouncing dictionary, based largely on that of his uncle Thomas Sheridan, and Frances.
Thomas Sheridan's daughter Hester, who was named after Jonathan Swift's Stella, married John Knowles and her grandson was James Sheridan Knowles, the once eminent 19th Century dramatist and actor.
Frances Hester (or Esther) Betsy Sheridan
Paternal 6th Great-grandmother
Paternal 8th- great-grandfather
Maternal Grandparents
Paternal Grandparents
Elizabeth Jane Early Andrews, great granddaughter of Franciska (Frances) Knowles Hoeffel.
SONGS, POEMS & VERSES
Written about her mother by
Helen, Lady Dufferin, (Richard Brinsley Sheridan's descendant)
(Countess of Gifford)
Edited, with a memoir and some account of the Sheridan family by her son, the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava.
A fond desire to preserve memory of those we love from oblivion is an almost universal sentiment, whether we build the tomb of Mausolus or carve the name of Rosalind on the forest trees in Arden. It is this motive which has led me to collect and publish the poems and songs of my mother; for a book once published has put on the robes of immortality; it becomes a ktμα εs αει (words in Greek) an indestructible witness to the existence and individuality of its author. Nor need I apologize for having undertaken this pious labor, for some of the pieces have already received a warm welcome, not only in England, but also in "Greater Britain." One of them, the "Irish Emigrant," has attained to world-wide fame, and on the other side of the Atlantic is wont to bring the audience to its feet. Another, "the Charming Woman," when it first appeared many years ago, was sung in the streets and theatres as well as in the drawing rooms of London; while one or two of the larger poems have continued to be recognized favorites at popular recitations. Since these have pleased, I have been induced to add others to the number, and to give to what has already been published a more stable existence than belonged to the fleeting form in which my mother's verses were originally disseminated. Printed in this small volume, they will, I trust, be allowed a niche in the literature of our century...
The Sheridans, though they fell afterwards upon evil days, were originally an ancient, affluent, and important family, possessing castles and lands in the County Cavan, a tract of which is marked in the old maps of the period as "the Sheridan country"; but [1
[1] "In Cavan, the ancient Brefny East, the families mentioned in an old map bearing date 1607 are the Sheridans, or O'Sheridans, and the O'Reillys." Notes on the Sheridans.]
in Queen Elizabeth's time their property was escheated, as Thomas Sheridan bitterly complained before the bar of the House of Commons in I680. They were driven from their homes, and were forced during the next two hundred years to fight the battle of life under what were always discouraging and sometimes desperate conditions. It is, perhaps, to these persecutions of Fate that their continuous intellectual activity may be attributed.
The first of the line who laboured in the world of letters was Denis Sheridan, the son of Donald and of a daughter of the O'Neill. He must have been born about the year 1600. He had quitted the Catholic fold to become a Protestant clergyman, and a devoted disciple of the saintly Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore, under whose direction he translated the English version of the Bible into Irish. Bishop Bedell died in Mr. Sheridan's house in the year 1642.
In order to make good the assertion that all living Le Fanus are of Sheridan descent it is necessary to go back to Hester Sheridan, sister of Thomas Sheridan the actor. This lady, who is said to be named after Stella, married John Knowles, who was for some time Treasurer of the Smock Alley theatre and agent to his brother-in-law. They had two children: James, a teacher of elocution who published in 1835 a pronouncing dictionary, based largely on that of his uncle Thomas Sheridan, and Frances.
Thomas Sheridan's daughter Hester, who was named after Jonathan Swift's Stella, married John Knowles and her grandson was James Sheridan Knowles, the once eminent 19th Century dramatist and actor.
Frances Hester (or Esther) Betsy Sheridan
Paternal 6th Great-grandmother
Paternal 8th- great-grandfather
Maternal Grandparents
Paternal Grandparents
Elizabeth Jane Early Andrews, great granddaughter of Franciska (Frances) Knowles Hoeffel.
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